Historical Society gets help sprucing up Paine House

June 17, 2013

Workers from R&D Simulia of Providence work on the garden at the Paine House on Station Street in Coventry. The software company takes a day annually to help non-profits.
Jessica Boisclair. Kent County Daily Times.

COVENTRYâ Members of the Western Rhode Island Civic Historical Society (WRICHS) were thrilled to have employees of a Providence companyvolunteering their time at the Paine House on Friday morning as a way to help out non-profits throughout the state.

Society member Norma Smith explained that the WRICHS found the company, R&D Simulia, on the Preserve Rhode Island listserv.

âThey came up and this company apparently does volunteer work one day a year so we responded to the ad,â she explained.

Smith said the society was never aware that companies did this type of community service and âthatâs one of the good things about Preserve Rhode Island, weâre being made aware of different grants and projects.â

David Duke, Simulation Apps QA Manager for Simulia, said although they are a âsoftware companyâ that offers â3D experience through realistic simulation,â they take time out of their schedule one day a year to help non-profit organizations throughout the country.

He said this year; the company is assisting 30 different organizations. It first began with a small group within R&D who wanted to partake in some community service but ânow itâs actually a lot of the other offices in other states that started doing it as well.â

âThis is a good thing because itâs nice to help out and they were very thankful for the help,â he added. âItâs a really good program.â

Brenda Titus, president of the society, explained that 11 volunteers spent their morning, from 8:30 to 12:30, at the Paine House, located at 7 Station St., doing various projects.

âThis is hours and hours of labor that we probably wouldnât have gotten done because we have a small membership,â she excitedly stated. âWeâre so thrilled to have people here.â